India’s visa processing center in Canada suspended services Thursday as a rift widened between the countries after Canada’s leader said India may have been involved in the killing of a Canadian citizen.
The bombshell allegation from Trudeau on Monday set off a diplomatic tit-for-tat as both countries expelled a diplomat each from their consulates. India denied the claim and called it absurd. Canada has yet to provide any evidence of Indian involvement, but if true it would mark a major shift for India, whose security and intelligence branches have long been significant players in South Asia, and are suspected in a number of killings in Pakistan. But arranging the killing of a Canadian citizen in Canada, home to nearly 2 million people of Indian descent, would be unprecedented.
At the time of his killing, Nijjar was working to organize an unofficial Sikh diaspora referendum on independence from India.